We have a very important question for you. When it comes to repealing Obamacare, are you comfortable pinning your hopes solely on the GOP's efforts? In other words, do you trust the Republicans to fully and unconditionally repeal Obamacare in its entirety?

We have another question for you. Do you believe that the federal government should be involved in your health decisions?

If you answered NO to those questions, then you'll want to keep reading.

History

Last November, local coordinators from across the nation came to DC to attend a meeting full of training and information.The Health Care Compactwas introduced and presented to the local coordinators, who unanimously and enthusiastically voted to take this on as one of Tea Party Patriots' projects. From that moment on, local coordinators and grassroots activists across the nation have been working hard to pass the Health Care Compact.

Interstate Compacts

The Health Care Compact is simply an interstate compact. Interstate compacts are essentially contracts between states, that, when approved by Congress, supersede federal law. Interstate compacts have been around since before the Constitution was written, and our Founding Fathers thought so highly of them that they included them in the Constitution (Article 1, Section 10), knowing that our states might someday need a mechanism to band together and take power back from the federal government.

There are over 200 interstate compacts in existence today, allowing states to regulate everything from selling life insurance across state lines to recognizing out-of-state drivers licenses. If an interstate compact imposes on existing federal law, the compact needs to be approved by Congress in an up-or-down vote. Congress is not allowed to amend the compact in any way; they can only vote yes or no. It is unclear at this time whether or not compacts require the President's signature; however, we fully intend to draw a line in the sand and force President Obama to publicly pick a side, just in time for the 2012 elections.

What does the Health Care Compact do?

The Health Care Compact (HCC) effectively builds a regulatory shield around the member states, protecting them from all federal regulation of health care. You know all those thousands of pages of Obamacare? Or, how about the thousands of pages of regulations that have yet to be written by Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius? What about the regulations that will be unilaterally imposed on us from the Independent Physicians Advisory Board (IPAB) - the group of 15 bureaucrats, appointed solely by the President - with zero accountability to the people?

The HCC gives the member states the power to reject every, single, unconstitutional page.

The HCC simply states that member states are free from federal health care regulations, if they so choose. Very basically, it allows states to receive health care funding with zero strings attached. No more costly, intrusive, and unconstitutional mandates.

This allows states to make their own decisions regarding the type of health care system that the people of each state desire, which means the decisions will be made at a level much closer to the people. It will be up to each state legislature and governor to implement the sort of system that their constituents demand, and it will be up to each patriot to ensure that the system implemented at the state level is based on free market principles and individual freedom - which they will only have the freedom to do if they join the Health Care Compact! Will that take work? Absolutely, but when has defending freedom ever been easy?

The HCC answers the question, "Who decides?"

Two weeks ago, Georgia became the first state in the nation to sign the Health Care Compact into law. We only need one more state for this to become a legitimate compact.

Conclusion

The Health Care Compactallows member states to opt out of Obamacare, which is incredible in and of itself, but it is so much bigger than Obamacare. It is a real, constitutional mechanism for removing the federal government entirely from the realm of health care. There are other mechanisms out there, such as repeal of the law, the various lawsuits, nullification, the repeal amendment, etc., and they should all be pursued.

The local coordinators were so enthusiastic about the HCC back in November because they understood the implications of rebuffing the federal government's intrusions using compacts. We could go on to write interstate compacts to supersede federal laws on land usage and onerous environmental regulations, or for education, or border security. The possibilities are endless.

The Health Care Compact relies on the formal authority of our states asserting their power, on our behalf, against a too-powerful federal government. It requires that we stay vigilant at the state legislative level, and it allows states to experiment with various systems. We want to get at least 20 states to sign on before we go to Congress so that we have a large number of voters behind this, in order to pressure our representatives and senators to approve the HCC.

Our Forefathers left us the tools to ensure that the greatest country on Earth remains great. The Health Care Compact is one of those tools. Ask yourself, "Who decides?"

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